68 THE NAUTILUS. 



THE SNAILS OF NEW MEXICO AND AEIZONA. 



T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



MOLLUSCA OF THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES. 1. L T ROCOPTID.£; 



Helicid^e of Arizona and New Mexico. Bt H. A. Pilsbry. 

 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., March, 1905.) 



Several years ago I was walking at night in the streets of Albu- 

 querque, N. M., looking for a building where a certain meeting was 

 to be held. Accosting the first person I met, I asked the way. The 

 stranger at once said that he was going to the same meeting, and we 

 walked together. I do not know how it was, but through some 

 inevitable necessity, the conversation soon led up to snails. My 

 companion was from the Pacific coast ; his name was Ashmun ; he 

 was interested in snails ; did I suppose he could find any in New 

 Mexico? Thus I had run across the only person in New Mexico, 

 except myself, who cared anything about the mollusca. The infor- 

 mation I gave him was not particularly encouraging ; he was not 

 likely to find much, but there were some little Pupidce and other 

 miscellanea in the debris on the banks of the Rio Grande. 



The next time I met Mr. Ashmun was in the train between Las 

 Cruces and Albuquerque. His first remark was, " I have found 

 three new Polygyras ! " I well remember my almost incredulous 

 astonishment; I thought I knew there were no such things in that 

 region ; for even the Santa Fe Canon records had become semi- 

 mythical in the absence of recent confirmation. 



Thus the corner of the veil was lifted; but how little we then 

 realized that Arizona and New Mexico contained a whole new snail- 

 fauna, including new genera of many species, large and varied in 

 form ! Fifteen years ago, the man who should have predicted the 

 discovery of a very distinct genus of comparative large snails, with 

 26 different species and subspecies, within the borders of New Mexico 

 and Arizona, would have been considered a veritable Munchausen ; 

 to-day we are prepared for almost anything, and humbly confess that 

 we scarcely begin to know the fauna of the Southwest. 



Astonishing as Mr. Ashmun's discoveries were, it remained for 

 Mr. J. H. Ferriss to reveal even more wonderful forms. In 1902 

 and again in 1904, he visited the Chiricahua and Huachuca moun- 

 tains in southern Arizona. The results of these journeys, together 

 with the accumulated fruits of other investigations, are presented by 



